


You're not fine

by jonesaubreypie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 12:03:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20907365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonesaubreypie/pseuds/jonesaubreypie
Summary: Tony notices that Bruce isn't fine and decides to finally confront him about it.





	You're not fine

“You’re not fine.”

Bruce raises his head slightly, peeling his eyes away from his scrawling notes, only slightly annoyed. He was close to figuring out a biometric bow-and-arrow system for Clint, one that would call bows directly to the archer’s fingertips when needed. Constantly reaching over his back to retrieve arrows was beginning to wear Clint’s shoulders down, especially on missions that lasted more than a few hours. Plus, it was archaic to simply keep reaching to grab a new bow when technology eliminated the need for, well, pointless physical exertion.

Tony was standing on the other side of the lab, pointing a wrench accusingly at Bruce. He was covered in grease from his own project. His eyes were bloodshot, his clothes matted with sweat stains, surrounded by empty coffee mugs. Even his shoulders seemed to sag. Bruce almost laughed. If anyone wasn’t fine, it was Tony. At least Bruce had managed to slip on a new shirt after a quick shower.

“What are you talking about?”

“You,” Tony said, flipping the wrench and wiping an arm against his forehead. It didn’t have the intended effect, Bruce noticed. Sweat was simply replaced with more sweat and grease.

“Tony, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Bruce sighed. “And I’m trying to figure this thing out for Clint—”

“Screw Barton.”

Bruce snapped his head up at that. Tony and Clint fought like brothers, but there was never any real animosity between them. The biometric bow and arrow configuration was Tony’s idea. It was his rant about exerting unnecessary effort that landed him the research portion of the project while Tony worked on Iron Man Suit Mark-whatever-number-he-was-on. He didn’t notice it before, but Tony was mad. Furious even.

“Talk to me,” Tony said, walking over to Bruce’s desk. “Please.”

No, not mad. Worried. Tony leaned on the table beside Bruce, looking up at him through those ridiculously long eyelashes. He was biting the inside of his cheek, tapping the end of his wrench on his hand. If Bruce didn’t know his best friend better, he would have guessed Tony was nervous. But Tony doesn’t get nervous. Not about Bruce at least. The last time Bruce saw Tony like this was just after Pepper broke up with him for the final time. She had texted Bruce asking him to look in on Tony. She told Bruce she couldn’t watch Tony self-destruct in front of her anymore. His drinking had become too much. He spent every second in the lab, with or without Bruce. Tony stopped caring about whether he lived or died. And Pepper had enough.

It was a rough transition.

**[Flashback] **

“Tones,” Bruce called as he walked into the lab, turning down Motley Crue’s ‘Shout at the Devil.’ “Tony, where are you?”

“Br...Bruce?”

Tony was on the floor of garage, cradling a bottle of scotch and just barely holding his head up against the wall. Bruce rushed over to him, dropping to his knees and bringing Tony into a tight hug. He cradled his best friend’s head on his shoulder, rolling the bottle away in the process. Tony smelled, his hair greasy, but Bruce didn’t care. He could feel Tony start to shake a little in his arms, and he tightened his hold even more.

“She left me, Brucey,” Tony choked out. “She said she would never leave. She promised.”

“I know, Tony, I know,” he replied softly, running one hand up and down his friend’s back and the other through his hair.

“And then she did it anyway,” Tony sobbed. “She just fucking left me!”

Bruce pulled Tony’s head back a little to look him in the eyes. They were bloodshot, his pupils dialated. Bruce couldn’t get Tony to concentrate on him, no matter how much he tried. Tony looked like a scared animal, eyes darting around, chest heaving with every breath. Bruce had never seen Tony like this, and it scared the shit out of him. He was ready to do anything to see the arrogant smirk plastered back on Tony’s face, for a witty one-liner about something Bruce was wearing, even for Tony to ramble off some equation Bruce could barely follow but loved hearing. This wasn’t his best friend; this wasn’t the man he was in love with.

Bruce hated what Pepper did Tony. He couldn’t imagine walking away from being able to have Tony every day and every night, to have him wholly in love with you. He dreamed about it. Often. He would glance up at Tony as they worked together in the lab, imagining what it would be like to walk over and hug the man from behind, pepper his neck and shoulders with kisses. But Tony was never going to be his. Tony belonged to Pepper, and Pepper him. The whole world knew. Bruce decided pretty early on into realizing his feelings for Tony ran deeper than best friend and science bro that he would hide his feelings. He did’t want to ruin their friendship. Before Tony, hell before the Avengers, Bruce forgot what it was like to be wanted and be loved as a friend. Tony showed him what it was like to be so in step with someone that you would do anything to be around them as much as possible — even if it hurt. Tony was the most important part of Bruce’s life. If friendship was the best that Tony could offer, Bruce would lap at it greedily.

“Why, Brucey,” Tony whispered in a raspy voice.

“Why what, Tony?”

Tony looked up at him, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Why wasn’t I good enough?”

“Oh baby,” Bruce said, mentally slapping himself for the slip. “Tony, you’re more than enough. You’re so good, Tony. You’re amazing. You...you have demons. But we all do. You’re so, so good.”

His heart broke looking at Tony trying to keep his composure, but between being extremely drunk and dealing with painful heartbreak, it was nearing impossible. There weren’t any words to erase the hurt Tony was feeling. It made Bruce feel useless, and that was driving him insane. All he could do was make his own promises, and hope Tony listened.

“I’m not going anywhere, Tony,” Bruce whispered into his ear, pretending not to notice the shudder that went through his friend’s body. “I’m going to be right by your side, always. I promise. I will never leave. And I’m going to help you get better.”

Tony looked up at him, his eyes narrowed slightly. They darted between Bruce’s face and the scotch body across the room. Bruce could heel him try to pull away slightly, but that only led to Bruce unceremoniously plopping down on the ground and pulling Tony even tighter into him.

“You need help, Tony,” Bruce said, softly, without a hint of judgment in his voice. “I want to help you. I will help you. You don’t need that anymore.”

Tony’s eyes stayed focused on the scotch, his body trembling. “You won’t leave,” he asked, his voice sounding distant.

“I promise.”

“How can I trust you?”

“Tony,” I tilted his head to look at me. “You are the most important person in my life. I’m not going anywhere. The question is: do you trust me?”

Tony looked at him. Bruce could see the calculations playing out in Tony’s mind as the engineer stared at him. It almost made him uncomfortable and, for reasons he would have to investigate later, he could feel his dick twitch in his pants. Tony wasn’t just looking at him, he was studying. It was the most intense gaze he ever found himself under with his best friend, and it made him wonder what Tony looked like when he was working that hard to make his partner come.

“I don’t trust anyone. Not anymore.”

“Tony-”

“But I trust you, Brucey.”

“Oh,” he said quietly, caught off guard. “Um, why? I mean, I’m glad. But why?”

“I don’t know,” Tony answered, his voice carrying through his own confusion. “But I do. And I do.”

“And you do what?”

“I do want to get better,” Tony admitted, his eyes looking anywhere but at Bruce’s face. “It’s going to fucking suck.”

“Yes it is.”

“And I’m going to be a miserable fucking bastard in the process.”

“Well that’s not too far from the usual.”

Tony smirked, then gave Bruce one of his rare genuine smiles. “Touche, Banner.”

It was quiet for a second. Tony and Bruce content to just sit there for a second. Eventually, Bruce reached around and grabbed Tony’s hand, holding it in his own, rubbing a thumb over his fingers. He would add as much comfort as he could. He wanted to slow down Tony’s mind. He wanted Tony to focus on nothing but him.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“I believe you,” Tony said, smiling sadly.

**[End Flashback] **

“I’m fine, Tony,” Bruce sighed, looking back down at the project, all interest in helping Clint pushed aside.

“I don’t understand why you’re trying to hide from me,” Tony said, pushing into Bruce’s personal space even more. “Or what you’re trying to hide from me.”

Bruce refused to meet Tony’s eyes. Of course he knew what Tony was talking about. Their friendship was getting harder for Bruce to be around. Helping Tony learn to stop drinking was one of Bruce’s proudest moments. He felt like he finally did good. Bruce and Tony spent every waking moment together after that. At first it was everything Bruce wanted — he had Tony’s undying attention. But the more Tony became at ease, the more physical he became with Bruce.

Tony, it turned out, loved to hug. And snuggle. Poke, prong, tickle, and tease. Everything had to be on his terms, though. Bruce couldn’t just sneak up behind Tony and touch his shoulder. Tony didn’t like being touched unless he initiated it — but he loved to touch others. It gave him some kind of grounding, some sort of peace. Bruce had a feeling it made him feel connected to people in his life in a way his father was never particularly good at doing when Tony was a kid. With Pepper gone, Bruce became the main recipient of Tony’s affections. He could feel his stomach drop with every finger Tony laid on him, wanting so bad to lean into the affectionate action. At least when Tony was with Pepper he could watch from afar, and distance himself from Tony’s affectionate gaze, restricting it to time when they worked on the same project and Bruce came up with a brilliant idea. He could handle the overwhelming beauty, intelligence, and allure of Tony Stark in bursts. He could deal with the pangs in his heart if there was enough space for him to recover. This newfound attention and admiration was too much.

“I’m not hiding anything, Tony,” he finally answered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m just tired.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Tony scoffed, standing straight up but never taking his eyes off Bruce. “You don’t hang out with me anymore. You have an excuse for everything. You’re always over here instead of hanging out with me on the other side of the lab. You don’t want to have late night science sessions or eat takeout together — even when I suggest Indian food because it’s your favorite.”

“Tony—”

“You even stopped hanging out with the rest of the team if I’m around,” he yelled, throwing his wrench across the room. “So it’s clearly something to do with me. I don’t have to be Sherlock fucking Holmes to figure that out. So what, Bruce? What did I do? Tell me.”

“You haven’t done—”

“Because you promised you wouldn’t leave, but this is all beginning to feel a lot like Pepper all over again,” Tony said, his voice breaking a little.

Bruce wanted to look at Tony. He wanted to try and tell Tony that he wasn’t going to leave, but he had to protect himself too. He was beginning to panic. Everything was happening too fast. Why couldn’t Tony just continue to exist as they were? Why did they have to do this now?

“But it would be worse,” he heard Tony whisper. “Losing Pepper was fucking hard. But losing you, Brucey?”

He stopped, and Bruce finally hazarded a look at Tony’s face.

“What?”

“I can’t live without you, Brucey.”

“Stop! Fuck. You have to stop, Tony. You can’t say these things to me. It’s not fair,” Bruce practically barked out.

“Stop what,” Tony yelled, putting his hands on Bruce’s shoulders. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“This,” Bruce yelled back, shrugging Tony’s hands off his shoulders. “Touching me. Being extra attentive to me. Caring for me. Fucking loving me! I can’t deal with it anymore! Do you know how much I love you? How in love with you I am? How much it hurts to have you be so flirtatious when I know you don’t want the same thing? I’m sorry Tony, I want to be your best friend, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more, that I didn’t want everything with-”

And suddenly he found his arms full of Tony’s body, the engineer’s lips pressed against his own. Their mouths were barely moving, but he could feel the pressure of Tony’s mouth on his. His hands found their way to Tony’s lower back, gently placing them around his hips, melting inside when he heard Tony whimper. He decided to take a chance and nip at Tony’s bottom lip, running his tongue against it, his pants tightening with every new groan Tony was making. He desperately wanted to continue finding out what kind of sounds Tony could make, but before he had a chance to move his hands lower, Tony pulled away.

“You’re an idiot,” Tony muttered against Bruce’s lips.

“When...what...how?”

“I’m not sure,” Tony answered honestly. “I think a part of me always has, but I couldn’t see past Pepper. Pepper...she was all consuming. Not all of it was good. Actually, a lot of it was bad. Really bad. But when she left, it was like my mind cleared.”

“You also stopped drinking,” Bruce couldn’t help but point out.

“Yeah, thanks to you,” Tony said, taking the chance to give Bruce a quick peck. “I’ll always be in debt to you for that. But with Pepper gone, I realized that although I loved her, I could live without her. I was actually better without her.”

“That’s great, Tony, but I still don’t see-”

“It was after that, when it was really just me and you for a while, that I figured out I could live without Pepper, but I couldn’t live without you. And after some late night sessions with Jarvis, I kind of realized that what I thought was a deep friendship, y’know, like science bros stuff, was actually a hell of a lot more.”

Bruce felt like he was holding his breath. He had dreamt of this moment — well okay maybe not this exact moment — for so long that he didn’t want to blink and have it all be a fever dream. It was late. He could be hallucinating. There weren’t any fumes in the lab, but maybe not sleeping and being around Tony’s reckless abundance of manic energy late at night had caught up with him. He looked down at Tony and, for the first time in his life, he didn’t question what the person in front of him was saying. He believed Tony wholeheartedly. There was something in his look, something so determined, that any anxiety he was feeling over Tony’s sudden proclamations were gone.

He leaned down and kissed Tony again, gingerly, testing the waters. He wanted to pour everything into the kiss, but didn’t want to scare the other man off. Not so soon after finally having him in his arms. He would go at Tony’s speed. But when Tony’s confident tongue pushed its way into his mouth, he seemed to get the hint. He pushed back greedily, pressing his body flush against Tony’s. He could feel the other man’s erection starting to harden on his leg, his own standing proud. Tony ground carefully into it, moaning as he did so. The sight was exhilarating. Bruce wrapped his hands around Tony’s ass and hoisted him into the table, grabbing Tony’s face and kissing him as hard as he could. He could feel Tony starting to undo his pants, and as much as he wanted to feel Tony’s delicate mechanic fingers grasp his dick, there was one pressing matter on his mind he couldn’t shake.

“Tony, Tony wait,” he panted out.

“Now,” the engineer groaned, still squirming around, trying to find some kind of friction.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Bruce offered sheepishly. “But..I wasn’t...what I said earlier...I guess-”

“Bruce, my cock is literally throbbing and I’d like to see your mouth on it, so please get to your point.”

Well fuck if that didn’t send any blood circulating around his brain straight to his dick, which was suddenly harder than he thought possible.

“I can’t do a one night stand. Or a two-night stand. Or a month-long stand. If this is some kind of exploration for you, if this is something you’re going to be bored of in six weeks, we should stop now,” Bruce finished confessing, avoiding Tony’s gaze.

“You’re an idiot.”

Bruce felt Tony’s fingers on his chin, gently tugging him back up to look at those beautiful chocolate brown eyes. Tony smiled softly, and brought Bruce in for another quick, soft kiss. Their foreheads rested against each other, and Bruce took the chance to just breathe everything in. Underneath the undeniable stench of sweat and grease, he could make out Tony’s singular musk. It was earthy and rich, and warm. Bruce wanted to hibernate inside it.

“I fucking love you, Bruce,” Tony whispered. “Like, in a really bad shout it from the rooftops, hold a boom box outside of your window kind of way. I’m in love with you too, Brucey. I’m not going anywhere.”

Bruce inhaled sharply, and closed his eyes trying to stop the damn tears that had suddenly appeared from falling down his face. He didn’t know it was possible to be this happy. He felt Tony’s thumbs brushing away a couple of tears that had slipped through, overwhelmed by how kind and soft Tony could be. He started to shake a little, every emotion kicking into overdrive.

“Brucey bear, are you okay,” he heard Tony ask, chuckling a little at the nickname.

“I’m fine, Tony.”

“Bruce, what did I tell you about that word.”

“I’m more than fine,” Bruce acknowledged, looking at Tony, and cupping his new partner’s face. “I just didn’t know I could be this happy. I’m...thank you, Tony. For showing me, for reminding me.”

Tony smiled, and kissed him deeply. Bruce could feel his cock twitch back to life, and took the chance to explore the body in front of him without inhibition. He could feel Tony’s own erection start to harden again, and he took a chance to lightly graze it during his ministrations. Tony’s moan seemed to pass from his mouth to Bruce’s stomach, and the scientist felt himself growl with a need to make Tony his once and for all.

“Do you want to move this to the bedroom,” he asked, palming Tony’s erection once more.

“I thought you’d never fucking ask,” Tony said, jumping off the bench and tugging Bruce through the lab to a private set of elevators. Bruce was more than fine to let Tony lead the way, watch as his engineer bounded across the room.


End file.
